Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging of reward-related brain circuitry in children and adolescents

Background Functional disturbances in reward-related brain systems are thought to play a role in the development of mood, impulse, and substance-abuse disorders. Studies in nonhuman primates have identified brain regions, including the dorsal/ventral striatum and orbital–frontal cortex, in which neural activity is modulated by reward. Recent studies in adults have concurred with these findings by observing reward-contingent blood oxygen level–dependent (BOLD) responses in these regions during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigms; however, no previous studies indicate whether comparable modulations of neural activity exist in the brain reward systems of children and adolescents. Methods We used event-related fMRI and a behavioral paradigm modeled on previous work in adults to study brain responses to monetary gains and losses in psychiatrically healthy children and adolescents as part of a program examining the neural substrates of anxiety and depression in youth. Results Regions and time-courses of reward-related activity were similar to those observed in adults with condition-dependent BOLD changes in the ventral striatum and lateral and medial orbital–frontal cortex; specifically, these regions showed larger responses to positive than to negative feedback. Conclusions These results provide further evidence for the value of event-related fMRI in examining reward systems of the brain, demonstrate the feasibility of this approach in children and adolescents, and establish a baseline from which to understand the pathophysiology of reward-related psychiatric disorders in youth.